Criminal Lawyer Blog

Police training not an escape hatch

The objectivity displayed in the guilty verdict against a police officer who assaulted a G20 protester three years ago is a good thing for public perception of the legal system, says Toronto criminal lawyer Michael Boyd.

Recently, Ontario Superior Court justice Louise Botham found Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani guilty of assault with a weapon when he beat G20 protester Adam Nobody in Toronto three years ago.

“This type of objectivity in the administration of justice increases the public confidence in our criminal justice system,” says Boyd, a lawyer with Caramanna, Friedberg LLP. However, he adds, incidents like the one involving Andalib-Goortani, “tend to have the unfortunate effect of causing members of the public to lose confidence in the police as a whole, rather than the particular officer involved in the incident.”